Italian Braised Artichoke with Pecorino Risotto and Licorice | Carciofo Brasato, Risotto al Pecorino, Liquirizia, Limone e Mandorla Tostata
Aromatic bitterness is the idea behind this plate. A globe artichoke is braised until the heart gives, then seared and roasted so its outer leaves colour, and it sits on a loose Pecorino risotto. Licorice extends the vegetable bitterness rather than sweetening it, lemon restores brightness, and toasted almond with breadcrumbs supplies the only dry texture.
Nothing here is decorative. Artichoke is one of the hardest vegetables to build a dish around, because cynarin makes whatever follows taste faintly sweet and because the vegetable has almost no fat of its own. The risotto supplies that fat, the reduction glazes the artichoke with acidity behind it, and the licorice oil is measured in drops.
Serves 4. Prep: 40 minutes. Cook: 55 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 35 minutes. Difficulty: advanced. Course: primo piatto, vegetarian. Rice: Carnaroli.
The Story
The artichoke arrived in Italy from the Arab Mediterranean and settled hardest around Rome, where the Romanesco variety, round and almost without a choke, grows in the sandy coastal land between Ladispoli and Cerveteri. Rome eats it in two absolute forms, alla giudia flattened and fried in the old Jewish quarter and alla romana braised upright with mint and garlic. Sardinia grows the spikier, more bitter spinoso instead. The vegetable is national and fiercely local at the same time.
Licorice is a Calabrian product, not a sweet shop one. The wild Glycyrrhiza glabra root along the Ionian coast around Rossano has been harvested since the sixteenth century, and Liquirizia di Calabria carries DOP status because the root from that land is unusually high in glycyrrhizin. The Amarelli family has processed it there since 1731. Pure root powder is bitter and aromatic rather than sweet, which is why it belongs with artichoke.
The rest of the plate is a deliberate assembly of regions. Pecorino Romano, despite its name, is mostly made in Sardinia under the same DOP, and its aggressive salt is what a bland risotto needs. Carnaroli comes from the flooded plains of Vercelli and Novara. Almonds come from Avola in Sicily and the Murge in Puglia. The dish is modern, but every element is chosen for what it does.
Ingredients
For the artichokes
Large globe artichokes, 4
Lemons, 2, for acidulated water and juice
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Garlic cloves, lightly crushed, 2
Shallot, thinly sliced, 1
Dry white wine, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Vegetable stock, 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)
Thyme sprigs, 4
Fine sea salt, to taste
For the risotto
Carnaroli rice, 1 1/2 cups (300 g)
Shallot, finely chopped, 1 small
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Dry white wine, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Hot vegetable stock, about 5 cups (1.2 litres)
Pecorino Romano, finely grated, 2 oz (60 g)
Unsalted butter, cold, 2 tbsp (28 g)
Extra virgin olive oil to finish, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
For the artichoke reduction
Braising liquid from the artichokes, 1 cup (240 ml)
Honey, 1 tsp (7 g)
Lemon juice, 1 tsp (5 ml)
Cold butter, 1 tbsp (14 g)
For the licorice and almond
Pure unsweetened licorice powder, 1/4 tsp
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Toasted almonds, roughly chopped, 1/2 cup (65 g)
Fine dry breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp (15 g)
Butter, 1 tbsp (14 g)
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1 lemon
To finish
Fresh mint leaves, small, 8 to 12
Pecorino Romano shavings, a few per plate
Finely grated lemon zest, to taste
Extra virgin olive oil, a few drops per plate
Fleur de sel, to taste
Preparation
Step 1: Turning and holding the artichokes
Fill a bowl with cold water and squeeze one lemon into it. Snap off the tough outer leaves by pulling them down and back until you reach the pale tender ones, cut away the top third, pare the stem and base, then halve each artichoke and scrape out the choke with a teaspoon. Drop every piece into the lemon water as you finish it. Artichoke flesh oxidises within a minute of being cut, and once it has gone grey brown nothing brings it back.
Step 2: Braising the halves
Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pan, add the crushed garlic and sliced shallot and cook gently for 3 minutes without colour. Drain the halves, lay them cut side down in a single layer, pour in the wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes. Add the stock and thyme, season lightly, cover and braise at a bare simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife tip enters the base of the heart with no resistance but the halves hold their shape. Keep the liquid.
Step 3: Reducing the braising liquid
Strain the braising liquid and measure out 1 cup (240 ml). Simmer it until it has reduced to about a third and coats the back of a spoon, then whisk in the honey and lemon juice and take it off the heat. Whisk in the cold butter a little at a time, off the heat, so it emulsifies rather than melting into a separate oily layer. It should taste savoury with a clear sour edge, not sweet.
Step 4: Searing and roasting the artichokes
Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Pat the halves dry, because a wet surface steams instead of colouring, and sear them cut side down in a hot ovenproof pan for about 2 minutes until they take a deep brown edge. Turn them, brush generously with the reduction and roast for 6 to 8 minutes, brushing once more halfway. They finish glazed and slightly crisp at the leaf tips while the heart stays soft.
Step 5: Making the almond crunch
Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat, add the breadcrumbs and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes until evenly golden. Take the pan off the heat before adding the chopped almonds, so they warm through without darkening, then stir in the lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Tip it onto a cold plate and leave it uncovered. Sealed in a container while warm, it steams itself soft within minutes.
Step 6: Mixing the licorice oil
Whisk the licorice powder into the olive oil in a small bowl and leave it to stand while you cook the rice. Use pure unsweetened root powder and nothing else: confectionery licorice carries sugar, anise and often flour, and turns the plate into a dessert. The powder never fully dissolves, so stir it again before use and apply it in drops from a teaspoon.
Step 7: Toasting the rice and deglazing
Sweat the chopped shallot in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 2 minutes without colour, then add the Carnaroli and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes. The grains should feel hot to a fingertip and turn translucent at the edges with an opaque white centre. This tostatura seals each grain so it absorbs stock slowly instead of collapsing. Pour in the wine and let it evaporate completely before any stock goes in.
Step 8: Adding the stock
Keep the stock at a bare simmer and add it a ladle at a time, waiting until each addition has almost gone before the next. Cold stock drops the pan temperature and stalls the cooking. Season lightly and only here, since Pecorino Romano is extremely salty and comes later. Count 16 to 18 minutes from the first ladle and taste from 14. The grain should be firm at the very centre and yielding around it.
Step 9: Mantecatura and finishing
Take the pan off the heat and let it stand for 30 seconds. Add the cold butter, the grated Pecorino Romano and the tablespoon of olive oil and beat hard with a wooden spoon, shaking the pan at the same time, until it turns glossy. Off the heat is not a detail: Pecorino added over a flame separates into strings and oil. Loosen with a last ladle of hot stock until the risotto is all'onda, spreading in a slow wave when the pan is tilted.
Plating
Use wide shallow bowls warmed to around 140°F (60°C), because risotto on a cold plate tightens from the outside in and stops flowing. Spoon it into the centre and tap the base of the bowl once with the flat of your hand so it settles into an even disc by itself, rather than spreading it with a spoon, which drags the starch.
Set one artichoke half cut side up slightly off centre, so the leaves and the glaze are what the diner sees first. Spoon a little reduction over the artichoke only, never across the risotto, where it would streak the surface. Scatter the almond crunch in a narrow band beside it, so it stays dry as long as possible.
Finish with three or four drops of licorice oil around the rim of the risotto, a few shavings of Pecorino Romano, two or three small mint leaves, a light grating of lemon zest and a pinch of fleur de sel on the artichoke. Send the plate immediately: a risotto that waits two minutes on the pass is a different dish.
Professional Technique
The defining technique is braising then roasting the same artichoke, which almost no traditional Italian preparation does. Braising alone gives a tender heart and a washed out exterior; roasting alone gives colour and a fibrous base. Doing both, with the surface dried in between, cooks the heart gently while the outer leaves take Maillard browning in eight minutes of dry heat. The reduction brushed on during the roast supplies sugars that accelerate that browning.
The second is the handling of licorice, a seasoning problem rather than a cooking one. Glycyrrhizin is roughly fifty times sweeter than sucrose by weight, yet the bitter aromatic compounds in the root arrive first, which is why a trace reads as bitter depth and a fraction more reads as confectionery. Suspending the powder in olive oil slows the release so the aroma builds across the plate, and it makes the dose visible, because you count drops instead of guessing at a pinch.
The third is mantecatura off the heat. Pecorino Romano is a hard sheep cheese with low moisture and high salt, and its proteins tighten and expel fat above roughly 150°F (65°C). Beaten in while the pan is still on the flame it produces strings and an oily film; beaten in after 30 seconds of rest, with cold butter for insurance, it emulsifies into the starch the rice has released and gives creaminess without cream.
Texture and Moisture Control
The plate is a contrast between something that flows and something that does not. The risotto must be all'onda, loose enough to move slowly across a tilted bowl, which means finishing it a shade looser than looks right in the pan because it keeps absorbing liquid on the way to the table. If it tightens while you plate, beat in a spoonful of hot stock, never cold, which shocks the emulsion and dulls the surface.
The almond and breadcrumb mixture is the only crisp element and it has a short life. Fat coated crumbs resist moisture for a few minutes at most once they meet a wet surface, so it is made last, cooled uncovered and scattered at the pass. If it must wait an hour, hold it in a dry oven at around 200°F (95°C) rather than in a sealed box, where its own steam softens it.
Moisture inside the artichoke matters as much as moisture on the plate. Braised too briefly, the base of the heart stays fibrous and roasting will not fix it. Braised too long, the halves fall into separate leaves when turned. The test is a knife tip into the thickest part of the base: no resistance, while the halves still feel whole.
Professional Mise en Place
The artichokes and the reduction can be finished hours ahead. The risotto cannot start until the guests are seated, so everything else must be within reach before the first ladle of stock goes in.
Equipment and tools
Wide ovenproof saute pan for the artichokes
Heavy based saucepan for the risotto, second pan holding the stock at a simmer
Small saucepan for the reduction and a small pan for the breadcrumbs
Fine mesh strainer, small whisk, wooden spoon, teaspoon for the licorice oil
Wide shallow bowls warmed to about 140°F (60°C)
Prepared ahead
Artichokes turned, braised and cooled in their liquid, up to 1 day ahead
Braising liquid strained and reduced, refrigerated for up to 3 days
Almonds toasted and chopped, crumb mixture made within the hour of service
Licorice oil mixed and left to stand, stirred again before use
Shallots chopped, Pecorino Romano grated and shavings cut, lemon zested
Service setup
Stock at a bare simmer, never boiling, with a ladle in the pan
Reduction warm and pourable, loosened with a teaspoon of stock if it has set
Artichokes seared, going into the oven as the rice reaches 12 minutes
Crunch, mint, zest, oil and fleur de sel lined up at the pass
Butter and Pecorino weighed out for the mantecatura
Chef Tips
Buy artichokes by weight and feel rather than by looks. A good one is heavy for its size and its leaves squeak faintly when squeezed; a light one with splayed leaves has been out of the ground for a week and will be woody at the base. Expect to lose close to half the weight in trimming, which is normal.
Taste the Pecorino Romano before you weigh it. Sheep cheese varies enormously in salt between producers and a fierce one pushes a lightly seasoned risotto over the edge in one addition. If yours is very sharp, use 1 1/2 oz (45 g) and make up the body with an extra teaspoon of butter.
Start with half the licorice if you have not used pure root powder before. Another drop is easy to add at the pass and impossible to take out, and the aroma keeps developing in the warm bowl. A dish that smells of licorice as it arrives has already gone too far.
Keep the stock hot and light. A dark, heavily reduced vegetable stock overwhelms the artichoke, and lukewarm stock stretches the cooking past 20 minutes and gives a soft grain with a chalky centre, the one risotto fault that cannot be corrected.
Common Mistakes
Skipping the acidulated water. Cut artichoke turns grey brown in under a minute and the discolouration goes through the flesh. Have the lemon water ready before the first cut.
Roasting the artichokes wet. A surface still carrying braising liquid steams in the oven and stays pale. Pat the halves dry and sear them in a hot pan before the reduction touches them.
Adding the Pecorino over the heat. Sheep cheese tightens and splits above about 150°F (65°C). Take the pan off the flame, wait 30 seconds and beat the cheese in with cold butter.
Using confectionery licorice. Sweetened licorice brings sugar, anise and often flour, turning a savoury bitter accent into a dessert note that sits badly against the Pecorino.
Finishing the risotto too thick. Rice keeps absorbing liquid on the way to the table, so a risotto that looks correct in the pan is stiff in the bowl. Leave it looser than seems right.
Wine Pairing
Vermentino di Gallura DOCG: The most reliable bottle against artichoke, which strips most wines of their fruit and leaves them tasting metallic. Grown on decomposed granite in northern Sardinia, it carries a saline bite and a bitter almond finish that meets the vegetable on its own terms, with enough citrus acidity to cut the Pecorino and butter.
Etna Bianco DOC: Carricante grown on volcanic soil gives the sharpest mineral tension on this list and the highest acidity, which is what a bowl of buttered rice needs: it keeps the lemon and the artichoke clearly defined instead of letting them dissolve into the fat, and its smoky finish sits beside the licorice without amplifying it.
Fiano di Avellino DOCG: The choice when you want the almond in the dish answered rather than contrasted. Fiano has real body, a waxy texture and a toasted nut character that runs alongside the crunch, while its acidity stays high enough for the lemon zest. A bottle with two or three years of age suits this plate better than a young one.
Offida Pecorino DOCG: The Marche grape, no relation to the cheese despite the name. It is fuller and more herbal than most Italian whites, with a sage and citrus peel aroma that echoes the thyme in the braise, and a firm bitter finish that refuses to be bullied by the artichoke.
Grillo Sicilia DOC: The most immediate and least demanding option. A dry modern Grillo gives citrus, cut herbs and a lightly saline close that cleans the palate after each mouthful of Pecorino and butter, with no oak or residual sugar to argue with the licorice.
Storage & Reheating
Store the components and never the finished plate. Braised artichokes keep up to 2 days refrigerated in a sealed container with a little braising liquid over them, which stops the cut faces darkening. The strained reduction keeps 3 days refrigerated and sets firm when cold. The licorice oil keeps a week at room temperature in a closed jar.
Rewarm the artichokes in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 6 to 8 minutes, brushed again with reduction, rather than in a pan where the leaves break up. The almond crunch does not store once made: keep the almonds and the breadcrumbs separate and combine them fresh, which takes 3 minutes.
Risotto should be eaten the moment it is made and does not reheat honestly. Spread leftovers on a tray to cool quickly, refrigerate for up to 1 day and make risotto al salto: press a portion into a small nonstick pan with a little butter and fry about 4 minutes a side until a crust forms. Do not freeze the risotto or the artichokes.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 portions:
Calories: 820 kcal
Total Fat: 45 g
Saturated Fat: 13 g
Trans Fat: 0.4 g
Unsaturated Fat: 30 g
Cholesterol: 55 mg
Sodium: 720 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 87 g
Fiber: 11 g
Total Sugars: 8 g
Added Sugars: 2 g
Protein: 20 g
Lactose: 0.6 g
Principal micronutrients: folate, vitamin K, vitamin E, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium
These figures are estimates. Artichokes lose close to half their weight in trimming, so edible yield varies widely, and the salt depends almost entirely on the Pecorino Romano and the stock.
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